Michael Flynn. Photo courtesy of RT.com.
Summary: On Friday, Michael Flynn pled guilty to lying to the FBI.
Michael Flynn pled guilty to lying to the FBI. On Friday, Trump’s former national security advisor admitted that he was not truthful about his communications with Russia, and he is the first person inside the president’s administration to flip on Trump during special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe.
CNN reported that Flynn revealed that he is cooperating with Mueller’s office. According to the news organization, “The developments are a sign that the investigation is intensifying, and details revealed Friday provide the clearest picture yet of coordination between Flynn and other Trump advisers in their contact with Russian officials to influence international policy.”
The FBI stated that Flynn communicated with then-Russian Ambassador to the US Sergey Kislyak after a senior Trump transition official asked him to discuss sanctions and a vote with the United Nations. The FBI added that Flynn’s calls to the ambassador were discussed with officials in the White House.
Prosecutors stated that the bulk of the calls from Flynn to Kislyak and to Trump advisers happened around December 29. During this time, Trump advisors were at his property in Florida, Mar-A-Lago. The FBI said that Flynn pled guilty to lying about these calls.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller was tasked to investigate Trump’s ties to Russia, and he took over the probe from fired FBI Director James Comey. So far, Mueller has charged four people connected to Trump’s campaign: Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, George Papadopoulos, and Flynn. Manafort and Gates have pled not guilty, while Papadopoulos also pled guilty to lying to the FBI.
On Friday morning, Flynn appeared in court and answered “yes” and “no” to questions from the judge. He confirmed that he had not been coerced to plead guilty or had been given any promises to his sentence length.
“My guilty plea and agreement to cooperate with the Special Counsel’s Office reflect a decision I made in the best interests of my family and of our country. I accept full responsibility for my actions,” Flynn said.
Flynn faces a maximum of five years in prison. The White House issued a statement after his guilty plea that “nothing about the guilty plea or the charge implicates anyone other than Mr. Flynn.”
Before his time as Trump’s advisor, Flynn was a military general who was under investigation by the FBI for secretly working as an unregistered lobbyist for Turkey during the 2016 presidential campaign. He took the job as Trump’s senior security advisor, but he was in the position for less than a month. He was fired after he misled Vice President Mike Pence and then-chief of staff Reince Priebus about his conversations with Kislyak about US-Russia sanctions.
According to CNN, Flynn has also been scrutinized for taking money from Russia. For instance, he accepted $33,000 of a $45,000 speaking fee for a 2015 speech at a Moscow event hosted by RT, a Russian news organization that allegedly spreads propaganda in the United States; and at the event, he was seated at the same table as Vladimir Putin, Russia’s President.
Trump said that he was unaware Flynn had taken money from Russia and Turkey when he was hired.
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